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Whitelabel vs. Nightclub

It's time to get some new cartridges and it's between these two the Shure Whitelabel and the Ortofon Nightclub. The most important things are soundquality and durability of the needles, which should i choose?
Thanks!

soundquality on the whitelabels is second to none but their durability leaves a lot of room for improvement. mine barely lasted 3 weeks

quote:

Originally posted by Basstard soundquality on the whitelabels is second to none but their durability leaves a lot of room for improvement. mine barely lasted 3 weeks

I don't know what u did to ruin carts in 3 weeks, but mine have lasted a really long time, and of course virtually no record wear with only 1.5-2g of weight. Whitelabels over Nightclubs I recommend, due to less wear on your vinyl. Sound quality on both are excellent, but the wear issue makes the whitelabels the better choice.

+1 i'm pretty sure you did something reallyyy really really wrong.

honestly didnt guys

they were set at the correct weight and height with 0 antiskate. i do not scratch at all and never back cue heavily. second night i brought them out to DJ it was playing a record, then it just started skipping and before you know it the stylus is pointing at a fucked up angle

If you would have asked this question a few months ago, I would have said the Whitelabels, but now, I have to recommend the Nightclubs instead.

The Whitelabels are decent and their sound quality is damn good too, but I personally cannot stand the fact that the stereo balance on these carts (at least on the two I bought) are not centered during playback, which I think is due to faulty wiring in the unit itself and replacing the stylii does not fix this problem. That to me is extremely unacceptable and pretty much breaks the deal simply because of the money you are paying out, not to mention the audio SHOULD be panned dead center since they are indeed high quality professional needles. I remember making a thread on this same topic a while back, and other people on here had the same problems with their Whitelabels if I remember right. Aside from that, the record wear is very minimal and the sound is right up there, however the highs do seem a bit too tinny at times.

I just bought the Nightclubs about a month ago since the stylii for my Whitelabels were getting pretty crapped up, and I must say that they are more than worth the money. I don't know why I didn't get these over the Whitelabels to start with, but the audio balance IS dead centered (thank you Ortofon!), and I also think the sound quality is a tad better as well. The Nightclubs have more of a richer and refined sound, which appeals to me better than the more raw feel the Whitelabels seemingly have. As far as the imfamous Nightclub record wear everyone talks about, I can't say I notice anything too extreme yet. I have my tracking weight on 3 (the Whitelabels were at 2) with my tonearm height at 0, which I'm fine with at this point and neither cart has been problematic with skipping, however I think I do like the tracking ability of the Nightclubs a little better though.

Overall, both needles are top notch and will get the job done for any dj who uses either of them, but it mostly comes down to personal preference. Having used both, I'm now sold more on the Nightclubs, especially with the balance problems the Whitelabels seem to have, and IMO, the Nightclubs also seem to be more aesthetically built and less fragile than the Shure's even though they are more expensive.

Hopefully that helps you out a little.

whitelabels look gimmicy and over the top imo. a bit like the concord imitations by numark etc

they aint been round long enough to really be trusted imo. the concords have been an industry standard for years.

the concords look sleeker and more professional.

id go for concords. i have blue concord dj carts and they rock. and nightclubs are meant to be better spec wise..

Thanks guys especially DJ Intrigue for that indepth view.
I will go for the Ortofon.

DJ Intrigue, very interesting what you said about the balance.
i also own the Whitelabels currently and i have also notised the balance thing. first i didn't know what caused it, didn't know if it was some malfuntion with my headphones (Sen. HD 280) or if it was some kind of balance knob on my mixer (Numark DXM09) that i overlooked.

well, reading your post now, i reckon that its the Whitelabels.

sounds like the right cup is spitting out the highs and lows and the left is keyed on the mids. kinda sucks because when i mix, i have the left cup on and listen out with my right ear. Mixing seems harder when you only have the mids on the incoming tune (esp. in club env. with higher vol.)

i guess i have to learn to mix with listening out with my left ear

pretty sure my next cartriges are going to be ortofon.

now it's just the question which one (i know, the're a bunch of treads about that)

quote:

Originally posted by DJ ICE777 DJ Intrigue, very interesting what you said about the balance. i also own the Whitelabels currently and i have also notised the balance thing. first i didn't know what caused it, didn't know if it was some malfuntion with my headphones (Sen. HD 280) or if it was some kind of balance knob on my mixer (Numark DXM09) that i overlooked. well, reading your post now, i reckon that its the Whitelabels. sounds like the right cup is spitting out the highs and lows and the left is keyed on the mids. kinda sucks because when i mix, i have the left cup on and listen out with my right ear. Mixing seems harder when you only have the mids on the incoming tune (esp. in club env. with higher vol.) i guess i have to learn to mix with listening out with my left ear pretty sure my next cartriges are going to be ortofon. now it's just the question which one (i know, the're a bunch of treads about that)

my whitelabels were unbalanced as well, and it drove me crazy. i picked up some ortofon elektro concordes and have been very happy ever since. i'd say the whitelabels track a bit better, but the quality, and balance on the ortofons is exceptional. another thing to note... i've found i need around 1 or 1.5 g additional weight on my elektros.

i wish the whitelabels had the balance issue fixed.

quote:

Originally posted by Psiweaver i wish the whitelabels had the balance issue fixed.

Isn't there a guy who posts on here every now and then that is a representative from Shure? I thought I read a few threads a while back in which he posted and gave some insight about a couple of questions other users had about Shure products. I think he also had his contact info from Shure listed as well. Anyway, it would be very interesting to hear what he has to say about this problem, because it really is a shame since they are not all that terrible of a dj needle and also since the balance issue appears to be universal with many people. I wonder if he still reads in the DJ Booth at all?

I have seen a slight case of left/right levels being a bit off at times, so I switched to a different spherical stylus cart. Same issue, so It must be the cutting on certain vinyls will be like that. Not all my records do that. The eliptical cut of the Concordes is better for sound quality, and that could be why u don't get it as much, but the nature of analog will always be imperfect. Besides, you can't hear the level difference out loud anyways, unless your carts are really screwed up and need an alignment. Mine only differ 1 eq light (Rane Empath) every once in while on certain vinyls. Couldn't be happier with the Whitelabels.

I have the whitelabels and love them. Great tracking and low record wear.

Been using Ortofons for years now. Good sound and good quality not to mention that they look nice.

Shure do make good stuff don't get me wrong but I prefer the Ortofon.

At the moment I have Concord Electros, still a great option and sound superb.

Cheers
Nem

Good thread. Ive been relatively unhappy with my M44g. Not sure if I mistreated it or what but that highs sound really distorted on most tracks. So I looked into something with better quality and it seemed like the 2 best were the Whitelabel and the Nightclub. I just bought the nightclubs and hopefully the problem wont persist.

what's the weight of your tonearm for you ortofon concorde users? (particularly you nightclub users)

I just got mine today and the sound has been total crap. I don't know why but I cleaned the tonearm and everything. sound has been distorted and high piercing noises make it crap out. I took it back to the record store I got it from and he used em. everything sounded fine there. what's going on. Could it be my Vestex VMC-004 mixer?

quote:

Originally posted by DavidL913 what's the weight of your tonearm for you ortofon concorde users? (particularly you nightclub users) I just got mine today and the sound has been total crap. I don't know why but I cleaned the tonearm and everything. sound has been distorted and high piercing noises make it crap out. I took it back to the record store I got it from and he used em. everything sounded fine there. what's going on. Could it be my Vestex VMC-004 mixer?

You can read the Ortofon manual for recommended weight of your tonearm. I think it should be around 3grams in your case.

Anyway i ordered 2sets of Ortofon Nightclub Spherical. Can't wait comparing them to my Whitelabels. I haven't thought about the balance problem of the Whitelabels but i will look it up.

quote:

Originally posted by DavidL913 what's the weight of your tonearm for you ortofon concorde users? (particularly you nightclub users) I just got mine today and the sound has been total crap. I don't know why but I cleaned the tonearm and everything. sound has been distorted and high piercing noises make it crap out. I took it back to the record store I got it from and he used em. everything sounded fine there. what's going on. Could it be my Vestex VMC-004 mixer?

I have the weight of the tonearms set at the recommended weight of 3, and I use absolutely no height at all, so that is set to 0 on the table. Also, my antiskate dial is set to 0 as well.

I have the m44gs and iv never actualy used better.
Realy, iv never heard a set of concords or whitelabels so aslong as i dont have anything to compare to i should be fine haha.
All iv compared them to is a few cheap ortofons and the stanton AL-500 or whatevers, pices of crap.
Once i get the money i think ill buy some ortofons.
Definitly sound like they have been tried and tested for a long long time and like mentioned before they look cool!

I love how shure's have such low tracking weight, but i love the way the concord feels when you drop it on a record... much sturdier.

quote:

Originally posted by Basstard soundquality on the whitelabels is second to none but their durability leaves a lot of room for improvement. mine barely lasted 3 weeks

maybe it's a problem with shure...i got an m44-7 and broke the fucking needle a few hours after buying it. luckily GC exchanged it for me, but i'm thinking some of the needles are stronger than others? maybe they don't fully quality check all of them? ive had this one for two weeks and no problems yet...*crosses fingers*

quote:

Originally posted by Allied Nations I love how shure's have such low tracking weight, but i love the way the concord feels when you drop it on a record... much sturdier.

indeed. that's what i noticed at first too...i couldnt break my concordes if i tried (alright, i'm not gonna try...but still, you get the point)

quote:

I have the weight of the tonearms set at the recommended weight of 3, and I use absolutely no height at all, so that is set to 0 on the table. Also, my antiskate dial is set to 0 as well.

Well setting height on the tonearm is unnecessary anyway as long you don't have problem with skipping. But i recommend setting antiskate dial to 3 if you have set the weight to 3grams.

quote:

Originally posted by djkoolaide indeed. that's what i noticed at first too...i couldnt break my concordes if i tried (alright, i'm not gonna try...but still, you get the point)

Exactly what i think too it's much easier to place, the only negative thing i can find on the Nightclubs you can't set overhang but that's most for the turntablists i think

i love ortofons. i've never used whitelabels, but i'm completely satisfied with my ortofons.

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